On Friday night the Los Angeles Lakers will be hosting Oklahoma City Thunder for an extremely eagerly anticipated matchup.

On Friday night the Los Angeles Lakers will be hosting Oklahoma City Thunder for an extremely eagerly anticipated matchup.

The bookies are favouring the visitors for this one, the Thunder have odds of 2/5 available for a win while the best odds on the Lakers are 2/1.

In last year’s playoffs these two teams battled to a five-game Oklahoma series win, but it was no easy victory.

In the intervening time the Lakers have added the league’s best centre and brought together Steve Nash and Mike D’Antoni once again.

It largely depends on what kind of team the Lakers are on the day, they could be the side that embarrassingly lost to the Pacers or they the side that completely thrashed the Nuggets in their next game.

The match is going to have loads of media coverage and it is exactly those conditions which the Lakers respond well to. On the other hand, Oklahoma City could win by making use of their youth and athleticism to force the Lakers into some bad shots.

It definitely looks like it’s shaping up to be a great game and despite the betting odds, the Lakers are very capable of putting up an impressive fight.

Christian Bright is a professional sports commentator with keen interests in football, tennis and horse racing. His experience in the reporting on professional sports makes him a key asset to OCA’s coverage of athletic events and matches.